Artificial intelligence is bringing researchers closer to decoding how animals communicate. Machine learning models can process vast collections of sounds and movements, identify recurring patterns and even reproduce specific calls. These capabilities could offer valuable insights into animal behaviour, social structures and responses to environmental change.

However, the technology is also raising an unfamiliar ethical question: do animals have a right to privacy? Researchers writing in a Springer Nature publication argue that recording and analysing animal vocalisations may reveal information about relationships, locations, emotions or vulnerabilities. If animals have an interest in controlling how they are perceived by others, collecting this data without appropriate safeguards could represent a form of intrusion.

The risks become more tangible when AI-generated or recorded calls are played back in the wild. Biologist Vittorio Baglione has used AI to analyse carrion crow vocalisations, including calls that appear to summon other birds to defend a nest. The same discovery could support scientific research, but it could also be exploited by hunters or other actors to lure animals, provoke conflict or disrupt their social environment.

Previous experiments show how serious these unintended consequences can be. In 2007, zoologist Katy Payne reported causing significant distress to an elephant after playing a recording of the voice of the animal’s deceased relative. As AI becomes increasingly capable of reproducing convincing animal signals, interventions of this kind could become easier to scale and much harder to control.

The prospect of interspecies communication is nevertheless attracting significant investment. The Coller Doolittle Challenge offers a $10 million prize for demonstrating meaningful communication with another species without the animal recognising that it is interacting with humans. Its founder, Jeremy Coller, believes AI could help achieve this milestone by 2030.

For technology leaders, the debate highlights a broader principle: the ability to decode information does not automatically justify using it. As AI expands beyond human-generated data, questions of consent, privacy, ownership and potential harm will need to become part of system design from the beginning.

The next major AI breakthrough may not involve a more capable chatbot, but a system that helps humans understand another species. Whether that becomes a tool for conservation or exploitation will depend on the safeguards developed alongside it.

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